T.S. Eliot in the twentieth-century wrote what is today widely-regarded as one of the most important text of modernist poems, “The Waste Land.” This poem evaluates many aspects of ancient and contemporary culture and customs, and how the contemporary culture has degraded into a wasteland. In “The Waste Land,” Eliot conjures, through allusions to multiple religions and works of literature in five separate sections, a fragmented and seemingly disjointed poem. Eliot repeatedly alludes to western and eastern cultural foundation blocks to illustrate the cultural degradation prevalent in the modern era of England. One specific eastern example is brought up in the third section of the poem, which T.S. Eliot names “Fire Sermon,” an allusion to Buddha's sermon that preaches the path to ridding one’s self of suffering. T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” alludes to Buddhism and Buddha’s “ Fire Sermon” in order to shed light on humanity’s detrimental condition, and offers a remedy through the themes of birth, rebirth, and the symbols of water and fire.
Before even reaching the allusion to the Buddha’s sermon, Eliot has already begun to set up parallels that have a connection with the teachings relayed in the sermon. In the first section of “The Waste Land,” titled “The Burial of the Dead,” Eliot gives signs that suggest an impending rebirth; specifically, when the narrator poses questions regarding a corpse that has been planted in a garden. The narrator’s questions, “Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” (72) are indicators of an expectation of rebirth because the questions imply not if it will bloom but when it will bloom. In other words, the narrator asks not will it bloom at all or will it begin to sprout, but “Has it begun” and ...
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...guise, for just like the awakened Buddha who has rid himself of suffering and trishna, the dead corpse mentioned in the first section also has no desire, no eye-consciousness -- it is not conscious of feeling, touching, smelling, or any form of sensation. Unaffected by the fire, the dead corpse has the discipline and with that discipline a rebirth may take place where “Shantih shantih shantih” (line 433) or “The peace which passeth understanding” is at last received and the suffering is at last ended. No more suffering in feel, touch, smell, taste, mind -- no more suffering in sight.
Works Cited
Henry Clark Warren, Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1922), pp. 350-51
Saunders, E. Dale. “Buddha and Buddhism.” Encyclopedia Americana. 2008. Grolier Online. 14 Mar 2008
T.S. Eliot opens his Four Quartets with two epigraphs from the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus: “though logos is common, many live as if they have wisdom of their own”, and “the way upward and the way downward is one and the same”. These ideas tie closely with the opening lines of the first quartet Burnt Norton, where Eliot questions whether all time can be redeemed or not. This idea of redemption ties closely with Original Sin. The exploration of redemption, exemplified through the frequent rose imagery, snakes throughout the work haunting every figure within it, “what if we had gone down the passage and through the door into the rose-garden?” until at last he triumphantly concludes “the rose and fire are one”. Lingering beneath the roses, philosophers, and fire, is a meditation on the dichotomy of meaning between time and eternity. Eliot reaches the conclusion that all time is redeemable, but only through the interaction of both time and eternity. This interaction occurs only at the still turning point, the impossible union: the Incarnation. Percolating within the Incarnation, is the concept of logos, an intensely dense and rich philosophical idea
Williamson, George. A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot; a Poem by Poem Analysis. New York:
Selby,N. T.S.Eliot: The Waste Land: A readers guide to essential criticism .Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999. Print.
The work forced and challenged the reader to engage in classical literary works (i.e. Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Dante’s Inferno as well as multiple languages to be able to decipher and conceptualize the ideas that Eliot was trying to express. However, by drawing upon classical literary works and alternative languages, it could be argued the themes used placed the poem among the educated elite of society and excluded the under-educated working class, using language as a method to exclude certain groups. In spite of that, Eliot’s innovative approach to form and theme within the historical period of modernity (as defined above), led to The Waste Land being recognized as a key piece of modernist literature. Modernist art (including poetry) helped to reflect the socio-political climate, which was a time of rapid industrialization: the development of the steam engine, electricity, the automobile, and the development of synthetic material (Bullock, 1971, 58). These major industrial changes and their social impact forced a shift in political attitudes from the old ideologies of the bourgeois status based on land ownership, to bourgeois status based on those who owned the means of production (i.e.... ...
In The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot offers a wonderful insight to the spiritual aspect of the modern world. The wasteland that is described in the poem consists of a dried up and waterless land. Throughout the poem, Eliot looks for us to find a solution on how to rescue ourselves from what is known as the wasteland. To come to the full solution, he asks that we must give ourselves in the way of sacrifice. Another way to look at sacrifice is in Christianity, it has a tie into the theme of love. In order to come to this solution, it is very important to look deeper into the meaning of the poem and the way it is related to religion. Through doing this, it is important that one looks at the symbolism that lies deep within the poem, and analyzes what it really means to the reader in a spiritual form. The spiritual symbol that most lead us to the solution of rescuing oneself from the wasteland is water and its influence in the theme of love in the poem.
Q5 "Much of what Eliot writes about is harsh and bleak, but he writes about it in a way that is often beautiful". Comment fully on both parts of this assertion.
Story, Francis. "Buddhist Meditation." Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Eastern enlightenment religions have been gaining popularity throughout the western world for the past few decades, with many people attracted to a "different" way of experiencing religion. As with many other enlightenment religions, Buddhism requires disciples to understand concepts that are not readily explainable: one such concept is that of no-self. In this essay I shall discuss the no-self from a number of modern perspectives; however, as no-self is difficult to describe I shall focus on both the self and no-self. Beginning with psychological aspects, and neurophysiological research on transcendental meditation, I shall discuss the impact of modern brain science on our understanding of the self and transcendence. Next I will outline the relationship between quantum physics and non-locality, as this gives a western scientific explanation for no-self. Returning to the original source of Buddhism, I will briefly outline the discussion between Siddhartha and Vaccha regarding atman, then discuss the mind and no-self and their relationship to liberation. Finally I will summarize a few issues that the western mindset may face approaching this topic.
Attitudes toward love and sex are one of the major themes of the poem. The introduction to "The Waste Land" in The Norton Anthology of English Literature states that "This is a poem about spiritual dryness," and much of this spiritual dryness relates to the nature of the modern sexual experience (although there are also other aspects of spiritual dryness the introduction also notes that major themes include a lack of a "regenerating belief" that gives "significance and value to people" and a type of death that "heralds no resurrection"). (Introduction 2146) Comparisons of different types between past and present are often used to highlight the nature of this modern sexual experience, which is pictured as empty, as lacking in both romance and passion, and as fruitless. Lil's rejection of her offspring (line 160) has already been mentioned; other examples abound throughout the poem. One example is furnished by the seduction of the typist by the "young man carbuncular," described by Tiresias in lines 230-256. This scene describes a seduction seemingly without any love or passion. The typist seems to have no desire for sex, but no desire to resist seduction, either -- the young man's "caresses are unreproved, if undesired." (lines 236-237) Her single emotion expressed in the passage is a vague relief when the episode ends. Eliot follows the scene of seduction with these lines:
In The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot offers a wonderful insight to the spiritual aspect of the modern world. The wasteland that is described in the poem consists of a dried up and waterless land. Throughout the poem, Eliot looks for us to find a solution on how to rescue ourselves from what is known as the wasteland. To come to the full solution, he asks that we must give ourselves in the way of sacrifice. Another way to look at sacrifice is in Christianity, it has a tie into the theme of love. In order to come to this solution, it is very important to look deeper into the meaning of the poem and the way it is related to religion. Through doing this, it is important that one looks at the symbolism that lies deep within the poem, and analyzes what it really means to the reader in a spiritual form. In Eliot’s
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is an elaborate and mysterious montage of lines from other works, fleeting observations, conversations, scenery, and even languages. Though this approach seems to render the poem needlessly oblique, this style allows the poem to achieve multi-layered significance impossible in a more straightforward poetic style. Eliot’s use of fragmentation in The Waste Land operates on three levels: first, to parallel the broken society and relationships the poem portrays; second, to deconstruct the reader’s familiar context, creating an individualized sense of disconnection; and third, to challenge the reader to seek meaning in mere fragments, in this enigmatic poem as well as in a fractious world.
Cultural Decay in T.S. Eliot’s poem "The Waste Land" and Yulisa Amadu Maddy’s novel NO Past, NO Present, NO Future
Being a poet is not an easy skill set and involves a great deal of creativity for a writer to generate a meaningful poem. T.S. Eliot wrote numerous poems and also “achieved eminence as an essayist writing on literary theory and criticism, social, philosophical, and theological issues” (Eliot iii). In one of his poems, The Hippopotamus, T.S. Eliot critiques the Christian doctrine and its believers. Eliot mocks religion in this poem through the use of literary devices such as figurative language, imagery, and sound.
Thomas Stearns Eliot’s poetry has been of great influence in revealing to man his real identity during the last fifty years. To Eliot, the modern man is no longer the best creature ever created by God. He is neither a being supreme in everything. Nor is he the all-knowing, the most determined, and the sociable creature one might think of. How is this modern man depicted in his poetry is a question that would take time and meticulous effort to be answered. Nevertheless some characteristics of man are more evident in his poetry: Man suffers an impoverishment of emotional vitality. He lives according to the rules of the empty social conventions and those of a decadent culture. Man’s life is partly sordid and sensual. He is to some extent aware of his isolation and footlessness. He feels himself entangled in a corrupt, decaying, Ugly Society. All of these features, however, could be categorized into three major groups. Each group, in turn, would show a series of subsidiary relating problems which would make a whole entity. The duplicity of Man, lack of communication among Men, and Man’s isolation are three basic predicaments of Man, making him more and more alienated. Although, these motifs are common to Eliot’s poetry the writer here tries to trace them in his “Love Song” (The Waste Land and Other Poems 12).
This essay is divided into three parts with each part bringing new perspective to its meaning. The first part of this essay primarily concentrates on the true connotation of tradition. The second part, however, focuses on his impersonal theory of poetry and the relation of the poem to its author. In this section, Eliot discusses the analogy of a catalyst. When two gases come together in the presence of platinum, they form sulphuric acid. “This combination takes place only if the platinum is present; nevertheless the newly formed acid contains no trace of platinum, and the platinum itself is apparently unaffected; has remained inert, neutral, and unchanged” (2328). In this portion of the passage, Eliot deliberates on how this transforming catalyst will affect a person. Even though the person who goes through this transformation may feel new emotions or feelings, these feelings and emotions are not solely their own. They have been there the whole time but the feelings went unnoticed until something, such as a previously written poem or artwork, caused a reaction in the artist’s mind to bring out this new emotional state. The new emotional state is what motivates someone to create something new, but according to Eliot’s outlook on tradition it’s not an idea that is really